November 2025 Speaker: Brandon Wint
For November, we are privileged to host the nationally-celebrated filmmaker, poet, spoken word artist and arts educator Brandon Wint who will share their story through the lens of our global theme 'growth'.
For more than a decade, Brandon has been a sought-after touring performance poet, having shared his work all over Canada, and internationally at festivals and showcases in the United States, Australia, Jamaica, Latvia and Lithuania. Brandon Wint's poems and essays have been published in The Ex Puritan, Event Magazine, Arc Poetry Magazine, and Black Writers Matter, among other places. Divine Animal (Write Bloody North, 2020) is his debut collection of poetry. In recent years, his films have screened at DOXA documentary film festival and Reelworld Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival Centre.
Speaker Interview
Each month we ask our speaker some probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into their life and relationship with creativity:
- How do you define and apply creativity in your life and career?
I think, fundamentally, creativity is a physical energy -- something we can readily harness in the body and use to make art. I think creativity is, maybe, the language through which our emotional intelligence is made physical. For me, being an artist means that I'm committed to using that creative energy in order to reveal my emotional (and spiritual) intelligence, so that I can nurture greater self-understanding, and ultimately, love. Primarily, I express my creativity through writing poetry and conceiving films. Poetry is the way that I pray. Poetry is the way that I chart my intellectual and spiritual progress, and the evolution of my desires. Filmmaking is a way for me to tell stories and reflect upon truths that, for me, are not easily contained by poetic distillation. In both cases, acts of creativity help me explore the ideas that are most important to me. Creativity helps me find and understand my purpose as a human being and community member. - Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
As a poet, I'm always trying to understand and make meaning from the inherent interconnectedness of living things. In that sense, I suppose I find my inspiration from being in nature, even in simple ways. I spend a lot of time observing the movement of non-human life around me -- birds, squirrels, insects, the growth and death of plants --- because doing so helps me focus on life's magic, and the sublime realities of existence that inspire my awe and confound my understanding. - What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
I'm not sure, really. I'm quite grateful for everything I learned in and from my years of youthful ignorance. As I age and grow, it has become increasingly clear to me that the most important aspect of a creative career is the willingness to trust the process, stay the course, and finish what you start. - Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?
Mostly the poets I admire: Aracelis Girmay, Brigit Pageen Kelly, Mahmoud Darwish - What books have had an influence on me and why?
I often say that Trinidadian-Canadian poet and novelist Dionne Brand is the poet who convinced me that I could create a space for myself within so-called Canadian literature. All of my favourite works of hers --- A Map To the Door of No Return; In Another Place, Not Here; Land To Light On --- all of these books have been immensely important to my thinking, and therefore, to my development as a writer.
Dionne Brand has an incredible ability to diagnose power dynamics, whether in the social or political realms, and articulate these dynamics through precise, vivid and utterly surprising distillations of poetic language. Her clarity, precision and political integrity are all things I have learned from, and aspire toward. - What music are you listening to these days?
Most days, I listen to jazz or jazz-adjacent music. For months, I've been coming back to Love Is Everywhere by Pharoah Sanders, because the sentiment of the song's title is felt in the music. I find the song spiritually uplifting. I return to it often when I want to remind myself what art can do at its best.
The other day, I had the pleasure of hearing Vancouver vocalist Dawn Pemberton do a rendition of Stevie Wonder's Love's in Need of Love Today, which is a beautiful, beautiful song. Stevie Wonder is my favourite musician. I think his song As is one of the greatest songs ever written in the English language. That's another song I turn to when I want to feel alive. - What book are you reading these days?
Lately I've been really enjoying a book called Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry. The book is precisely what the title describes. As someone whose ancestors are not from Vancouver, and as someone who has only been in this city for ~ 5 years, I'm intrigued by the challenge and responsibility of writing about place, and writing about nature. This particular anthology, expertly edited by Camille T. Dungy, does a beautiful job of showcasing the varied approaches to writing about place from a particular ethic and historical positionality. In addition to being compelling for purely poetic reasons, the book is important to me right now because it is helping me reflect upon the politics of writing about nature, even if one is a newcomer to a particular land.
Musical Guest
🎵 We are thrilled to kick off this event with a live musical performance by singer-songwriter Matt Kennedy.🎶
Matt has been singing and playing guitar and mandolin for decades in western Canada. He can’t remember not having a song in his head. Matt writes songs about family, friends, observations on life, and the majestic western landscape where he lives. Matt loves old guitars, and singing and playing live music for people who enjoy that kind of thing. Matt appears in the folk pop band Headlong Hearts (on guitar and mandolin) and in the veteran trad bluegrass band Five on a String (on mando). He also performs solo, in duos and trios, and in varied studio recording sessions (vocals, instruments). He tries to be versatile.
This Month's Presenting Partner:
Downtown Van is a non-profit organization representing 7,000 businesses and property owners in the central 90-block area of Vancouver’s downtown core. Supporting them and making downtown Vancouver a place where everyone feels welcome drives us. Our team members are experts in economic development, community safety, placemaking, and events. They’re passionate about making downtown Vancouver a destination like no other.
---
How to Register for this Event
Join us on November 7th from 8:15-10am at the Vancouver Art Gallery by registering here.
